Think, Care, Act

Teaching for a Peaceful Future

Susan Gelber Cannonbrings to life a teaching approach that empowers youth:

to think critically and creatively about historical, current, and future issues,

to care about classmates and neighbors as well as the global community,

to act—locally and globally—for the greater good.

To act in a world whose problems seem overwhelming requires being able to use the powers of critical and creative thinking and compassionate and inclusive care.

Employing these tools, adults and youth alike can act effectively and conscientiously to solve problems big and small, global and local.

Susan Gelber Cannon

Welcome to Teach for Peace, where teachers, students, families, and community groups can find rationales and resources to build a peaceful future.

Home: Homepage links to all sections of the site and contains a rotating gallery of my peace teaching in the United States, China, and Japan.

Book: Here you find content and ordering information as well as previews of my book: Think, Care, Act: Teaching for a Peaceful Future. The book articulates three teaching imperatives—think, care, act—to infuse required curricula with peace, character, multicultural, and global concepts in daily classroom, school, and community activities.

Rationales & Curricula: Read why peace education is the best umbrella for our highest educational aspirations. Find introductory whys and hows of teaching for peace and justice. Next, read frequently asked questions—and answers—from workshops and classes I have taught for teachers, students, and community groups. Finally, annotated links provide a wide array of peace education curricula encompassing the following fields: critical and creative thinking education, civics education, character and moral education, multicultural and antibias education, gender-equity education, conflict resolution and antiviolence education, social justice and global education, service learning, environmental education, and 21st century education to name major strands of teaching for the greater good.

THINK: Numerous annotated links are provided to promote teaching critical and creative thinking. Exploration of such topics as media and political literacy, debating controversial issues, and envisioning a just and sustainable future are recommended for use with various age groups.

CARE: This section provides support for building caring classroom, and local and global communities. Find activities and curricula for use with various ages on such topics as antibullying education, character education, conflict resolution, and teaching the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

ACT: Thinking and caring people need to act. Find annotated links to social action websites for use with various age groups, for local and global action. Social action endeavors range from art, poetry, and community action projects to work for nuclear disarmament.

Blog: Visit my blog for new lesson ideas, new links to visit, and my reflections on teaching kids to think, care, and act. News archives and journals of my global peace education sabbatical are also provided.

About: SUSAN GELBER CANNON is a peace and character educator with over 30 years of classroom experience. Trained in moral development at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cannon teaches history and English, as well as Model UN, peacemaking, and debate at The Episcopal Academy near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. She has also taught middle school students and trained teachers in China and Japan. She wrote Think, Care, Act: Teaching for a Peaceful Future and created this website to provide teachers, students, families, and community groups with rationales and practical resources to teach and work for peace locally and globally. She speaks at local, national, and international conferences and workshops. Contact her at teachforpeace@gmail.com.